Arriving in the U.S. a year after its U.K. release, {$Electric Six}'s second album, {^Seņor Smoke}, shows that it'll take more than having been without a record deal in their own country to derail them. After all, they've survived a name change and taken more than a few lineup shifts in stride. Through it all, they've displayed a very Detroit kind of scrappiness and sense of humor that is stronger than ever in their music (though it's hard to expect anything less from a band that names one of its B-sides {&"I Am Detroit"}). The foundations of their sound still come from {\disco}, {\synth pop}, {\glam}, and {\arena rock} -- genres that had their last heydays several decades ago, which is oddly fitting for a band from a city often portrayed as having its best days in the past. Police sirens blare over {^Seņor Smoke}'s first two tracks, and the {\electro}-tinged {&"Devil Nights"} pays homage to one of Detroit's most notorious "holidays" and the city's pioneering {\electronic} music in one fell swoop. {$Dick Valentine} is as charismatic and campy as ever, singing "live" as "lee-uhv" and "city" as "cit-ay," and selling lyrics like "be my dark angel/be my Capri Sun" and "I'm a man, not a disco ball!" Yet {^Seņor Smoke} doesn't just sound like {^Fire} warmed-over. While it doesn't have a monster single like {&"Danger! High Voltage"} or even {&"Gay Bar,"} overall {^Seņor Smoke} is a sharper, more focused album that somehow manages to be zany with a serious undercurrent. {$Electric Six} find value in what is supposed to be trash and vice versa, taking aim at and sending up presidents, pop culture, conspicuous consumption, and media saturation. As on {^Fire}, they make their points with heroic doses of tongue-in-cheek humor and sincere camp. On {&"Rock and Roll Evacuation,"} "Iraq" is rhymed with "{\rock}" (as in "you don't know how to"), while {&"Bite Me"} is as much about siphoning gas as it is about sex. {&"Jimmy Carter"} is the album's {\power ballad}, and the {$Electric Six} equivalent of {&"Under the Bridge"} (although this song is intentionally over-the-top); {&"Future Boys,"} meanwhile, rattles off a list of pod-person-like corporate lackeys to jerky new-{\new wave}. {^Seņor Smoke} plays like a concept album, moving from darker, {\rock}-based tracks to more playful, plastic {\synth pop} like the brilliantly named closer, {&"The Future Is in the Future."} Even the cover of {$Queen}'s {&"Radio Ga Ga"} fits in well with the album's overall themes. Like {^Fire}, {^Seņor Smoke} runs out of steam toward the end; for the first half of the album, it's hard to keep up with them, but by the second half, it's hard for them to keep it up. Nevertheless, this is {$Electric Six}'s strongest work to date, and the fans who have stuck with them through their trials and tribulations won't be disappointed. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide